Distributing mechanism of typographical composing machines



y 1937. w. M. BOWE'R v 2,0793% DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ,COMPOSING MACHINES Filed Dec. 28, 1935 F/a.'/. F/GZ. I F/GJ Patented May 4, 1937 DISTRIBUTING MEoHANIsM or TYPO- GRAPHIGAL COMPOSING MACHINES William Morris Bower, Romford, England, as-

signor to Linotype and Machinery Limited,

London, England Application December 28, 1935, Serial No. 56,436 1 In Great Britain December 31, 1934 1 4 Claims.

Thisinvention relates to the distributing mech- V anism of typographical composing machines such as those known commercially under the registered trade mark Linotype, wherein circulating matrices released from a magazine for composition in line are, after casting from the composed line, returned to the magazine by being traversed along a distributor bar having ribs engaged by teeth on the matrices.

In the distributing mechanism employed in the commercial machines, 127 distributing combinations formed with seven pairs of ribs on the distributor bar and seven pairs of teeth on each matrix are available. The normal text font stored in.thema in magazine consisting, of 90 matrices, and the additional magazine channels usually provided, absorb 92 of thesecombinations. One further combination is used for sorts matrices not stored in the magazine, so that when auxiliary magazines are used arranged alongside the main magazine only 34 remaining combinations are available for use in connection therewith.

The object of the present invention is to modify the distributing mechanism, without any material departure from standard construction, in order to extend the capacity of such auxiliary or side magazines. To this end, the invention contemplates a distributor bar having six pairs of ribs of standard depth, the top pair of ribs of greater than standard depth, and matrices having corresponding teeth of standard form and the upper pair of teeth more deeply recessed for co-operating with the deeper upper ribs of the distributor bar. By the deep recessing for the upper pairs of teeth of each matrix the said teeth are formed approximately double the normal length, and bycutting back to half length these extra length teeth onmatrices for the main magazine and correspondingly cutting back to half depth the top pair of ribs on the section of the distributor bar serving the main magazine, all the combinations employing the top pair of teeth and ribs may be duplicated and the matrices with the full length top teeth carried over to the second section of the distributor bar serving the auxiliary magazine, the upper ribs of which will be cut backto the full depth for releasing the full length matrix teeth at the appropriate positions on the bar.

The invention is hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a matrix of standard form, shown in relation to a section of a distributor bar of standard form;

Figures 2 and 3 are corresponding views of matrices and associated distributor bar sections according to the invention, appropriate to a mainmagazine and an auxiliary magazine respectively, the sections of the distributor being taken on. the lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Figure 4,

Figure 4; is a broken perspective view of portions of the improved distributor bar.

The standard matrix A illustrated in Figure 1 is one which would be normally distributed into a main magazine, having a, tooth combination comprising only the upper and next lower pairs of teeth of equal length, to effect the release of the matrix when, during its travel along a distributor bar I of standard form, it reaches the section thereof at which the first and second ribs are missing, as shown in Figure 1, all of the ribs of the bar being of equal depth.

Figure 2 shows a matrix B, also intended for distribution into a main magazine, having a tooth combination corresponding to that of the matrix A, but modified according to the invention by the deepening of the recesses 2 beneath the top pair of teeth 3, and cutting away a portion, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, of the extra length of the first pair of teeth thus formed.

The matrix C, Figure 3, is formed according to the invention, for distribution to an auxiliary magazine, for which purpose the top pair of teeth 3 are of full length; in all other respects this matrix is similar to the matrix B.

The form of the distributor bar for co-operation With the modified matrices just described,

I will be best understood by reference to Figure 4, in which 4 represents a section of the bar appropriate to a main magazine and 4 a section thereof appropriate to an auxiliary magazine. Throughout the whole length of the bar, the six pairs of lower ribs are of standard depth, but the top pairs of ribs 5 are increased indepth to an extent corresponding to the increase in depth of the matrix recesses 2. On the main magazine 4 of the distributor bar the ribs 5 are cut back to half depth, as'indicated at 6, at the parts where main-magazine matrices such as B are to be released, whereas, on the auxiliary magazine section 4 the said ribs are cut back to the full depth as indicated at l, at the parts where auxiliary-magazine matrices such as C are to be released.

It will now be seen that as a matrix B is traversed along the distributor bar section 4, by

Es PATENTOFFICE i one or other of its pairs of teeth engaging with either the second pair of bar ribs of standard form or with the uncut deep upper pair of ribs, until it reaches the point indicated in Figure 2 and by theline 2-2 in Figure 4, where one of the cut-back portions 6 of the ribs 5 occurs in the same vertical plane as a cut-back portion of the second pair of ribs corresponding with the standard second pair of teeth present in the tooth combination. On the other hand, a matrix C cannot be released from the bar section 4, as its full length teeth 3 will remain in engagement with the ribs 5 at both the full-depth and halfdepth portions thereof throughout the length of the said section, and its release can take place only at the correct rib combination on the auxiliary magazine bar section 4*, where a full-depth cut 1 of the upper ribs 5 occurs, as indicated in Figure 3 and at the line 33 in Figure 4.

Thus, with the usual disposition of the 127 distributing combinations hereinbefore referred to, the tooth combinations employing the top pair of teeth usually restricted to the main magazine may be duplicated, one set of the form of the matrix B being allocated to the main magazine, and the other set of the form of the matrix C being available also for the auxiliary magazine. Further combinations embodying the top pair of teeth normally allocated to the auxiliary magazine are retained for that magazine by giving the top teeth the deeply recessed full-length form as in the matrix C above described. The capacity of the auxiliary magazine is thus increased by forty-five matrix channels, without increasing the number of teeth and ribs and without providing special means such as heretofore proposed for carrying matrices beyond the releasing combinations on the main section of the distributor bar.

Having described my invention, I declare that what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. In or for a typographical composing and distributing machine, a distributor bar of the standard seven-rib variety, said bar having a plurality of pairs of ribs of a given depth and one pair of ribs of a greater depth.

2. In or for a typographical composing and distributing machine, a distributor bar of the standard seven-rib variety, said bar having a plurality of pairs of shallow ribs and one pair of deep ribs, and formed with two distinct series of corresponding matrix-releasing combinations at respectively different parts of the bar, the combinations of said two series difiering only in respect of the depth to which the deep ribs are cut away 3. In or for a typographical composing and distributing machine, a font of matrices of the standard seven-tooth variety, said matrices having matrix-releasing combinations formed from a plurality of pairs of distributing teeth and comprising two distinct groups of matrices having corresponding combinations, said combinations difiering only in respect of the length of one pair of teeth.

4. In or for a typographical composing and distributing machine, a font of matrices of the standard seven-tooth variety, said matrices having distributing combinations formed from an upper pair of distributing teeth and a plurality of pairs of lower distributing teeth, and comprising two groups of matrices having corresponding combinations each including the upper pair of teeth, the combinations of the two groups difiering only in respect of the length of the upper pair of teeth.

WILLIAM MORRIS BOWER. 

